1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a device for controlling data transmission and particularly to a control method and a control device for data transmission between IDE apparatuses.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, an ordinary CD-ROM drive connects with a personal computer or IDE control device by way of IDE interface (Integrated Device Electronics Interface) to perform data transmission.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional IDE control device includes an IDE controller 10, two IDE interfaces 21, 22 and a memory bus 101 so as to connect with a memory 102. An IDE apparatus 11 is a CD-ROM drive associated with an IDE interface 23. Another IDE apparatus 12 can be a CD-RW associated with the IDE interface 24. The two IDE interfaces 21, 23 are connected to each other with a flexible flat cable or a bus and, by the same token, the two IDE interfaces 22, 24 are connected to each other with a flexible flat cable or a bus too. The flexible flat cable or the bus includes signal control transmission lines 31, 32 and data transmission lines 33, 34.
Once the data is ready to be transmitted, the IDE controller 10 of the IDE control device sends read control signal to the IDE apparatus 11 first via the signal control transmission line 31 to allow the IDE apparatus 11 outputting data via the data transmission line 33 and the output data being saved in the memory 102. Then, the IDE controller 10 sends write control signal to the IDE apparatus 12 to allow the output data being written in the IDE apparatus 12 from the memory 102 through the data transmission line 34.
The preceding conventional way for data transmission between IDE apparatuses is briefly in that the data of the IDE apparatus 11 is sent to the memory 102 first and then sent to the IDE apparatus 12 from the memory 102. Apparently, the conventional way provides a slower data transmission speed.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,724 discloses a fast IDE driver to drive transfers, which allows an IDE controller to connect with a first-in-first-out transfer buffer. While the data is transmitted between the IDE apparatuses, the IDE controller makes output data from one of the IDE apparatuses being saved in the first-in-first-out transfer buffer temporarily instead of being saved in the master memory. Then, the output data is sent to another IDE apparatus via the first-in-first-out transfer buffer to enhance the speed of data transmission.